Ben MacDui's Inn

72 Grampian Rd Aviemore Inverness-Shire PH22 1RH

Newly opened in 2013 – in a building that once housed an infamous Indian restaurant – this bar and bistro offers restaurant-quality food at pub-grub prices. It can't quite make up its mind what it is (plastic table cloths but a posh menu boasting roast venison), but it's not hard to recognise good value or friendliness when you see it. Beers on tap include Tradewinds and Stag from the local Cairngorms Brewery. The name comes from the peak that is, in good weather, visible on the horizon behind its back door: Ben MacDui – Britain's second-highest mountain, 1,309 metres, just 35 metres shy of Ben Nevis.